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Franke Premiere In India

09/03/2012

Composer to Visit Calcutta for Residency and Premiere

On 14 March Bernd Franke’s choral work PRAN will be premiered in Calcutta, with Gregor Meyer directing the GewandhausChor Leipzig. PRAN was commissioned by the Goethe Institute, the Gewandhaus Leipzig and broadcasting station MDR as part of a German season entitled “Germany and India 2011–2012 – Infinite Opportunities”, marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. Franke had been invited to Calcutta in March 2011 for a month-long residency to study Tagore’s life and work in his native city. Based on quotations from Tagore’s songs, Franke’s composition features both English and Bengali texts.